Ramaphosa tells diplomats land reform will be 'orderly' South Africa-

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President Cyril Ramaphosa said the process of land reform would take into account the interests of all South Africans and be conducted in an “orderly manner”.

Ramaphosa was addressing members of the diplomatic corps at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Pretoria .

“You are all aware that there is national debate that is raging in a wonderful way in SA on land reform. This debate has attracted a lot of attention in our country and we have noticed that it has also drawn a lot of attention in other countries as well. The land reform process will be undertaken in an orderly manner‚ a manner that advances the interests of all our people and not just a few‚” he said.

“We will seek to ensure that‚ as we did in 1994 when we crafted our constitution‚ that we will take into account the interests of all the people of our beloved land. This process is aimed at advancing economic development in our country‚ to increase agricultural production‚ and to ensure there is food security in our country.”
 
Ramaphosa explained that a process of amending the constitution to more explicitly allow for the expropriation of land without compensation was underway.

“This is one of a series of measures we are undertaking to accelerate land reform to correct this historical injustice. In the course of all this‚ we have had the fortune‚ as we did when we drafted our constitution‚ to have hundreds of thousands of our people participating in debate‚” he said.

“We will find a solution to this. And it will be a SA-made solution … We have to deal with various other challenges and one of the key challenges our nation is facing right now is low economic growth and rising prices that is having an adverse affect on our people. Government is addressing this challenge together with our social partners.”

He said SA’s development was “inextricably linked” to that of African regeneration.

“Earlier this year‚ our continent reached a milestone agreement when it established an African Continental Free Trade Area. Our continent’s development however is still undermined by pockets of instability and conflicts‚” he said.

“Since taking office‚ I have undertaken several international missions. These engagements have further consolidated relations between our countries at a political economic level as well as in areas of trade and investment … We are also working hard to improve the performance of our economy‚ to strengthen our government and improve the functioning of our SOEs.” The Soweton.